Investigating the impact of teacher practices and noncognitive factors on mathematics achievement

Abstract

It is with increasing importance that mathematics education research considers the role of noncognitive motivation variables alongside elements of the classroom context in investigations of student mathematics performance. This study uses a hierarchical linear modeling framework to predict mathematics achievement from three classroom variables, project-based learning, group collaboration, and student-driven curriculum, and two noncognitive factors, mathematics anxiety and mathematics self-concept, utilizing data from the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) United States sample. Findings suggest that mathematics classroom contexts that are student-driven and integrate project-based learning positively impact mathematics achievement, and that both mathematics anxiety and mathematics self-concept contribute significantly towards explaining variation in mathematics achievement after accounting for gender, race, socioeconomic status, truancy, and school-level poverty.